FAQs

Find answers to our most common asked questions.

For consumers

For advisers

Advisers FAQs

How do I access my Adviser Ratings Profile?

If you are yet to do so, you can access your profile page on Adviser Ratings by going to the “Adviser Signup” button on our home page to claim it. Click on “Adviser Signup” at the top right of our homepage at www.adviserratings.com.au then:

Simply enter your name as it appears at the ASIC Financial Advisers Register (FAR), and you should appear in a drop-down menu.

Select yourself from the menu and make sure your name appears in the “name” field.

Enter your email address in the next field

Click on “Check Profiles”

Continue to follow the prompts as requested. If all details are correct, the process takes less than a minute until you have access to your profile.

Once you have access to your profile, you can upload a profile picture, update your address, enter and change your company name and logo as well as other details.

A handy guide to “using the basics” of your profile (including using our email template to invite your clients to rate you) can be found here

Can I dispute a Customer Rating?

If you believe a customer review or rating to be false, you can lodge a dispute at reviews@adviserratings.com.au. We will review your request and investigate accordingly.

All reviews require the reviewer to supply a legitimate email address.

We will only remove false reviews - a difference of opinion is NOT considered a false review. All advisers have the right of reply to every review that's been posted.

My Qualifications/Memberships need to be updated, How can I do this?

With regard to your qualifications - we have imported details from the ASIC Financial Advisers Register (FAR) in an attempt to standardise adviser qualifications and listings.

Only the education, qualification and membership details that appear at the register will be displayed on the public profile of the adviser.

You can cross check these details by searching for yourself at the ASIC register here:

Any updates to qualifications or membership should first be made with ASIC (your licensee can usually do this on your behalf), then the new information will flow through to your Adviser Ratings profile after our next regular update.

Alternatively, as soon or ASIC is displaying any new information, you can contact Adviser Ratings and we can manually update your profile immediately.

Please note:

ASIC requires that reasonable endeavors are undertaken to keep the information on the FAR correct and up to date.

Licensee's are obligated to use best endeavors to ensure the correct details have been supplied to them by their authorised representative.

Authorised representatives are obligated to inform the licensee of any changes that need to me made on the FAR.

If reasonable endeavours are not conducted on both sides to keep the FAR correct and updated, a range of options are at ASIC's disposal (from enforcement actions to fines to criminal and civil sanctions).

How can I improve my Adviser Status (Silver, Gold etc)?

Any adviser on the platform has passed the minimum requirements to be on the platform. As you improve your qualifications, have a more thorough compliance regimen, increased experience as an adviser or have more customers rate you positively, your Status (Gold, Silver etc) is likely to improve.

Client review input can increase your status ranking so getting reviews can increase your Adviser Status. Client reviews can account for up to a fifth – or 20% of your status level.

Ask your clients to take 2 minutes of their time to rate you - we have a provided template you can send to your customers to help eliminate the workload on your end.

The Memberships, Qualifications and years of experience (as listed on the FAR) are imported to Adviser Ratings database for public display on a regular basis.

Won't other advisers be able to falsify customer reviews?

Adviser Ratings has processes in place, both automated and manual to verify each customer review. We have a dedicated technology and moderation team that check all the reviews posted to the Adviser Ratings website.

In the instance we find an Adviser or Customer has falsified a review, be it negative or positive, the offending Adviser will be removed from the website.

We also refer to ACCC's statement on misleading reviews. You should not:

encourage family and friends to write reviews about your business without disclosing their personal connection with your business in that review

write reviews when you have not experienced the good or service reviewed or which do not reflect a genuinely held opinion

solicit others to write reviews about your business or a competitor’s business if they have not experienced the good or service

Adviser Ratings may refer Advisers that have deliberately provided falsified reviews to ACCC for further investigation.

What is your relationship to iPraxis Pty Ltd, your AFSL holder?

We are a corporate authorised representative of iPraxis Pty Ltd. As we are providing certain widgets on our site, which may constitute general advice under AFSL guidelines, we have partnered with iPraxis for this compliance component of the business. iPraxis do not own any shares or are in any way invested in Adviser Ratings.

How were adviser details sourced for the website?

Details were sourced from publicly available information and the ASIC register under its creative commons license for unlimited third party uses

The Star Rating of the adviser (0 to 5 Stars) is based on their client reviews only.

Customers answer particular questions on their own advisers or advisers from whom they have sought advice. The answers to these questions are weighted to give an overall customer rating out of 5. The overall star rating is the average rating of all client reviews combined. Advisers yet to be reviewed by their current or former clients will have a zero Star rating.

Adviser Status Level (Gold, Silver etc)

We created the Adviser Status (Minimum, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum) to help consumers navigate the minefield of advisers and variability around the quality of advice dispensed. This should be considered in conjunction with customer reviews. We import data from the ASIC Financial Advisers Register (FAR) regarding adviser's memberships to various industry and professional associations, qualifications they hold, experience in the industry and compliance checks in place. We then apply a weighting to each of these segments to come up with the status level for the adviser.

What do you do with client details who do a review?

Your client's details (email address, name) are kept confidential. We do not disclose any customer's details that identifies the individual to any third parties.

We do not contact clients who have left a review, unless it is to check the veracity of the review.

You have the relationship with your customer - we will continue to implement further services onto your adviser dashboard that can enhance your relationship with your customer, should you wish to use these services.

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While we may facilitate the review and introduction of Advisers, Customers of Adviser Ratings will be responsible for entering into their own agreement with Advisers introduced through our website. Adviser Ratings does not provide personal financial advice nor do we recommend or suggest a particular adviser is right for you. We provide information of a general nature and we do not take into consideration your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Always consider whether the advice and information you are provided suits your needs. Adviser Ratings does not endorse, accept or adopt the Advisers on our site, the content of any profiles or the comments or discussion in any community forums. For further information about How We Rate Our Advisers, click here. Per quote in our video, refer KPMG research undertaken for Financial Services Council